03/13/2017 City Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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the bicycle and pedestrian projects to accommodate the scheduling of large grant projects in future years. • Collaborating with Partners and Leveraging Bond Funds - Eugene's Pavement Preservation Program (PPP) requires strong coordination with internal and external utility stakeholders to schedule and coordinate the street work with any needed upgrades and repairs to the nearby streets and utility facilities to avoid emergency repairs. The 2016 projects created opportunities to repair underground utilities including the wastewater and stormwater systems. We also appreciate the ability to leverage bond funds with other sources of revenue. We commend City staff for getting good value for the bond dollars. • Continuing to Communicate with Citizens and Businesses - Construction, by nature, is disruptive. City staff continued to work with residents and stakeholders to minimize inconveniences. We continue to encourage the department to coordinate projects and look for new and better ways to proactively coordinate communications and minimize impact to the public, impacted businesses and residents. • Achieving Sustainability Goals -The PPP is designed to extend the life of city streets before they fall into the reconstruct category. This helps to not only extend the life of the streets, but when combined with recent paving techniques, greatly reduces the City's environmental footprint Eugene is a leader in using reclaimed asphalt materials, reducing the mining and production of virgin rock and asphalt materials. The continued use of warm mix asphalt saves energy, reduces emissions, and is an excellent example of the department's commitment to sustainability efforts, consistent with the City's Climate Recovery Ordinance. • Building Safe and Complete Streets - The bond projects are designed to improve safety for people of all ages and abilities, balance the needs of different modes, and support local land uses, economies, cultures, and natural environments. This ties into the Council's strategy of "Vision Zero," a resolution that calls for eliminating traffic -related deaths or serious injuries on city streets. The improvements funded through the bond enhance safety for all road users, whether driving, walking or bicycling. • Understanding the Process for Selecting Projects - SRRP members often are asked what process is used to select streets for repairs. The streets chosen for bond funding were selected using the criteria listed on page 3 of the attached report. The selection of bicycle and pedestrian projects is guided by the Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan, City staff and the Active Transportation Advisory Committee. The memo by Associate Transportation Planner Reed Dunbar (in Appendix C) explains in more detail how these safety improvement projects are selected. • Recognizing the Continued Economic Value of Street Bond Projects - A functioning transportation system is important for the community and economy. The bond is essential to maintaining the City's infrastructure. Based on the Oregon Department of Transportation Highway Division jobs multiplier model, the bond measure projects completed in 2016 conservatively sustained approximately 69 full- time equivalent jobs during the period of construction. • Bottom Line - We believe the community is getting a good return for its investment in street repairs, and the bond funds are being used wisely to meet the objectives of Ballot Measure 20-197. An upfront investment in repairing and maintaining Eugene's streets saves the community significant money. We feel Public Works Director Kurt Corey and his staff are doing an excellent job designing and constructing bond measure projects. We appreciate the support they have given us in the course of our review. The committee also continues to express its appreciation to the voters and taxpayers of Eugene for their ongoing support of the bond measures that have made our community a better place to live and do business. Additional information about the Street Repair Review Panel can be found at www.euLyene-or.gov/gobonds. Please feel free to contact any of us for additional information. SRRP Members John Barofsky John Quilter Janet Calvert Matt Roberts Allison Camp Dan Rodriguez Mel Damewood 011ie Snowden Paul Holbo Gary Wildish Jim Mender Sue Wolling Dave Perez Citv of Eugene Staff Kurt Corey Katie Marwitz Michelle Cahill Brian Richardson Cinimint Harper Mark Schoening Eric Johnson Tammy Smith Paul Klope Jenifer Willer